NASCAR boss bemused by teams' alliance

NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France says that he is skeptical about the potential effectiveness of the newly-formed Race Teams Alliance. He warned that a consensus voice from the teams could actually hold the series back.

Nine of the Sprint Cup series' largest teams announced their plans to form a unified body to represent their interests earlier this month, with Michael Waltrip Racing co-owner Rob Kauffman appointed as the RTA's leader. But speaking during a radio interview on SIRIUS/XM on Monday, France said that he harbors doubts about the group.

"We didn't think it was necessary," he said. "We think the benefits they will arrive at with this association will be much smaller than they do.

"The one thing that is essential to NASCAR is, when you hear once voice, that would probably be the worst thing that we could ever do – listen to one voice, even if it was a consensus voice.

"Every decision we've ever made that's important, the more input, the more people we heard from, the better the results. That will never change in the business model of NASCAR because good ideas come from all over the place. That's the whole beauty of the NASCAR business model. Everybody's in it together."

According to France, the RTA has not given the series any additional details concerning what it hopes to achieve beyond the broad aims of cost-cutting and value-building that were declared when the group's formation was announced.

However, Kauffman has claimed that the teams are not chasing a larger slice of the reported $8.2 billion TV deal that comes into play next year. He has also denied suggestions that the group is effectively a teams' union.

"A union would be for employees," he told the Associated Press. "The right way to characterize it would be a 'business alliance.'"